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Time for a Drink: The Old Cuban

Posted by Paul Clarke, August 24, 2007 at 11:00 AM

Let's get this weekend started right. Here's a cocktail to kick things off. Need more than one? Here you go. Cheers!

Even though summer is waning, it's still sunny and you’re hot—what could be better than the icy, minty, rum-soaked goodness of a mojito?

This isn’t a mojito. It’s close, though—and maybe even better.

Think of the Old Cuban as what a mojito wants to be when it grows up. Suave and urbane, yet with the mojito’s summer-busting power, the Old Cuban is one of the finest rum drinks around. A contemporary classic created by Audrey Saunders—she of Pegu Club fame—the Old Cuban is the cocktail to spring on your mojito-loving friends when you want to take them to a new dimension.

Old Cuban

Adapted from Robert Hess's Drinkboy.com

In a cocktail shaker, place:
6 mint leaves
1 ounce simple syrup (or less, to taste)
3/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice

Gently bruise the mint leaves with a wooden muddler or the end of a wooden spoon. Add:

1 1/2 ounces Bacardi 8 (or substitute another medium-bodied gold rum)
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fill shaker with ice, and shake well for 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass (you may wish to use a tea strainer to remove the tiny flecks of mint).

Top with 2 ounces chilled champagne; garnish with a mint leaf.

About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.

2 Comments | Tags: Cocktails, rum, The Old Cuban

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